I took the cab off my sled trailer and put it back on the frame. I was nervous as I lowered it but it lined up perfectly. Whew. I haven’t fish plated the frame yet but I have got a piece of 3/16” x 6” flat bar to do that job when I get back to it. I took my trailer and proceeded out to the farm to resurrect that old long box. She has some major surgery awaiting her and I have been hmmm-ing and hawing 🤔 about how to make the original box work.

A lot of the box’s rust is in the front corners on the downward body curve. The floor is actually in really good shape, but I want bed wood and will likely sell it. Anyone with very minor welding skills would love this floor. I removed the inner wheel tubs and fought with rusty old bolts. I cut most out from underneath with the grinder and zip disc. I then hammered on those tub buggers for about 6hrs to get all the dings and dents out. They are straight now and look really good. Other than that the floor, tubs, rear cross and cross sills, and front panel are in great shape for a 50 year old truck. Just some minor hammer and dolly work to get the front panel completely flat again.

The box sides have some nasty dings here and there that I have to address, but my plan is this:As little welding as possible.Remove box sides.

Scribe 11” out of the front of the box.

Scribe 12” out of the front of the box.

Remove spot welds in front bed brace that hangs down.

Remove front stake pockets and spot welds if necessary.

Cut out 11”, leaving extra tabs to accommodate the stake pocket.

Cut out 8” of rear bed side. This includes chopping out the light hole. More on that later. Keep cut line as close to rear taillight compound curve as possible.

Remove right rear stake pocket assemble. I have some terribly bashed up iron here and need access to the back side to get it straight before rewelding.

Separate the inner and outer panels so as to creat accesss for hammer and dolly work and to fix any wheel well rust.——This scares me!

Cut inner skins in front of the rear stake pocket and remove 8”. Repeat at the front stake. I want to retain the bead bent into the metal from factory, so I will have to weld this up. -approx 2 ft weld near bead. Should be somewhat stiff.

Patch any rust. Recontour the wheel opening at the bottoms and fix rust, etc.this will be a big job also.

Fix front brace on the box leading edge if necessary.

Attend to wheel well rust.

Plug weld inner and outer skins back together using old tacks as references.

FOLD the front 1” extra over top of the front bed brace and plug weld in for a factory look.

Weld rear panels back up and adjust, as required, to get the slight body line drop to line up. It shouldn’t be too bad. Only a bit an estimated 1/4 to 3/8' over those 8” I have outlined. It shouldn't be too bad... should it?

Prepare for bed wood.Modify front panel for wood. Same for rear cross sill.Redrill side bolt holes if need be.

Somewhere in there I am going to sand blast and epoxy the whole inside/outside of the skins so there will never be rust up there again. It is pretty rusty up there.

Side marker lights I haven’t quite decided on yet. Cut and Weld? Build a mold and press it?

Well, that’s the plan. It is a big, ambitious, probably stupid thing to attempt, but I want to try to keep the box sides and front panel at least. So far, I have removed most of the rotten bolts(ugh), removed the fender braces, inner tubs, hammer and dollied the snot out of those tubs and got them straight again, removed the left box side, and began laying out the cut lines on the rear box side.

Fingers crossed this works, or I’m out a lot of cash for a replacement box...

Cab: 84Frame: 28Doors: 44Fenders: 34.5Hood: 2.5Box: 14

Total: 207

😬😎🦊

Oh, by the way, I also picked up a used ‘72 GMC hood that side steps a lot of steel work. It is very nice. 4 tiny little dings vs a huge front end pinch, tree damage, and various smashes over top of the hood braces.

Well, I jumped into the deep end of the pool here. The other day I cut out my fish plates for the frame bracing. Man, I need a shear. Zip cut dust everywhere. Good thing I bought a whole box of n95 masks a year ago! I beveled them and then painted the back side black. I’m not sure what the heat will do to that, but it’s done. They turned out very nice. I will weld them in one day soon. Today I began box surgery. First, I removed the front left stake pocket. I drilled out all the spot welds that hold the inner skin to the back left stake pocket. I removed this so I can weld the two separated inner skins back together and have hammer dolly access to maintain the bead on the inner skin. More work, ? Yes, but I want it that way. The bead, not extra work! Next, I drilled out the spot welds on the leading box edge that hold the front “body line brace” in place. Then, I cut the tail end of the left box side off the left side. I was careful not to cut through the inner or outer skin in inadvertent places. This actually went fairly well and easily. The front is another story. I cut the front outer skin down to size, but I still have to figure out how I’m going to relocate the stake pocket hole here without cutting through in a spot where I don’t want to on the outer skin. I packed it in to avoid late night stupid decisions.

The side marker lights will likely go back in. I just haven’t decided how I’m going to progress. I might weld in the old ones. I might try to make a die/mold and press a new hole in so I don’t have to weld. Either way is a boatload of work...🙃

Tune in next week, kids, to see how to totally rip apart a good set of box sides! I think GM built those things to NOT come apart. But I got it done tonight!

I’m beginning to see spot welds in my dreams now. Yeesh. Do you know how many spot welds there are holding a 67-72 box side together? A pile. Perhaps I will count them next time out. It has to be well over 100. Anyway, I have the inner and outer separated. First, I got the front stake pocket removed, I then proceeded to cut all the spot welds along the top rail on the inside. There were a lot of them. I left a couple, one at the front and one at the rear, just to hold the top until I was ready to separate the two. Next, I took a very fine dremel cut off disc and sliced through the tack welds that held the inner and outer together on the top lip of the wheel well. I made a slight notch on either end to help with realignment. Again I left the end two welds to hold it until I was absolutely ready. Surprisingly, it went well so I cut the last tacks and spot welds and those pieces came apart quite well.

Once apart, I prepped the two pieces with the beads and the inner panel for tig welding. I lined them up, clamped ‘em, and buzzed them out, grinded a touch and called them good. I had a little hammer and dolly work but they turned out pretty good ( for me anyway). Tonight, I removed the middle stake pocket as the true shortbeds don’t have them. My spot weld cutter isn’t long enough to hit these perpendicular to the metal, so I had to improvise and this caused extra cuts in the good inner panel metal. I had to tig those holes up and hammer dolly a little bit. So far so good. After some cut “true-ing” I lost about 1/8”overall. Hopefully it doesn’t bite me later.

By the way, if any of you are thinking of getting a welder, seriously consider saving up and getting a multipurpose machine. I did, and oh boy, do I LOVE my MIG/TIG/Stick ESAB. It can do it all.

Cab: 86Frame: 29Doors: 44Fenders: 34.5Hood: 2.5Box: 20

Total: 216🤔🦊

I was also checking my hours list and I haven’t included a lot of wasted hours from that stupid LH door. And I missed 2 hours on the cab somehow. I have to recompile the totals as this isn’t quite right...

Next up, I will be removing all the rust via blasting in and out, then start some metal work/ dent repair, epoxy prime what I can, and then weld it back up. It’s a long road with lots of curves ahead.

Do you guys like cheese? I am a fan of many kinds. Cheddar, Gouda, Parmesan, mozzarella, they’re all pretty good. But, dear Lord, not blue cheese, ack! That stuff will kill you.

Swiss? That stuff is awesome on a turkey & bacon clubhouse! It makes my mouth water...

I bet you know where I’m going with this. I blasted my inner box side panels, the tubs, stake pockets and tail light back piece and all looked really good. The outer skin though is a totally different story. I suspected some rust but, after blasting, I am very upset here. I am seeing visions of the LH door repeating itself here. The wheel arch has Swiss cheese all along the curve. Holes everywhere. The blaster opened up a lot and I haven’t even blasted the outside surface. If I do I bet I will open up even more rotten cheese holes. The bottom corners of the arch are full of it too, or missing completely. The lower lip of the panel front to back...pitted deeply. I thought that maybe I could weld in some patch panels. I examined more closely the day before yesterday in the sunlight and saw pitting 1/2 way up the inside of the box side. Pitting so deep that any attempt to patch in steel there will just end up with holes being blown everywhere. So if I cut away steel until I hit solid metal, I will cut away well over 1/2 of the remaining box side. Then fight to get it straight, smooth and looking good, then continue the modifications into a shortbox. I don’t even want to think of the hours it would take me to do so. I’ve been moving at a snail’s pace on this truck and I am extremely frustrated. It looked so solid, the doors and box; but as I dig she’s just showing me how thin she has become.

I had high hopes. Things were going so well, I had a good plan, and was eager to get on things. The wind in my sails has quit. The doldrums. I was hoping it wouldn’t come to a replacement box, but it is looking that way. Now I’ve disassembled/destroyed a “deceptive” good looking left box side. Ugh...I’ve begun shopping and pricing things out.

Ugh...😞

Hours...who cares tonight.

If you’re a beginner and want to build a truck, be ready for this kind of stuff. Physically, mentally, emotionally, financially, and you’d better have a supportive wife like I do.

I have been shopping (not buying yet) and my cart is getting very full. I will try to do as much purchasing in one shot to avoid extra charges. So it’s going to be a big one. Remember how I said you’d better have a supportive wife? Well, my wife is unbelievable. I contemplated selling my motorcycle (terrible timing: market’s flooded with them, most a lot cheaper than what I want for mine, I don’t want to, etc) as I haven’t ridden in much in the past 2 years after my kids were born. I would use the cash to go towards parts. My wife said to me the other day, “Don’t think you have to sell your bike just so you can buy some parts for Grandpa’s truck.”

Like I said, she’s a keeper. My parts total is running a titch higher than I initially told her though. 😬 I will see how she takes it. Maybe the bike will be on the block after all!

I haven’t been idle lately though. I ripped the front end apart to replace the bushing rubber on the upper and lower control arms. They were packed full of sand from the blaster and needed to be replaced. I also fishplated the inside of the frame splice, but haven’t completely welded it out, as welding under the cab sucks and I want to pull the cab off in order to complete the welds. I disassembled the stock overload springs, blasted the hangers, primed, and painted them black, I reassembled them and installed on the back end. I figure I will never use them, but just in case I pull something with this truck one day and need them. A case of, “You don’t need ‘em, until you need ‘em.” Plus, they aren’t hurting anything under there.

I also cleaned up the shop. I find it extremely satisfying to see the shop clean and tidy. It motivates me to work in there more.

Here are the adjusted, updates hours from what my shop board has told me.

Cab: 88Frame: 35Doors: 53- what a PITA. A lot of wasted time here. Learned much, yes, but still behind the 8-ball.Front fenders- 34.5Box-23Hood- 7- some forgotten hours of straightening that severely pinched hood that I got very tired of and found an original replacement.

Total: 240.5

So, some progress, 🤔 but not exactly where I expected it. 3 steps forward, 4 back, 1 forward. What a terrible way of doing it!🤦🏼‍♂️

No pictures to update. We’ve all seen IFS before!

I also discovered that my 3/4” ratchet has **** the bed, and barely ratchets anymore.